California special election reporting: 12th District

The Special General Election to fill the U.S. House seat in California’s 12th Congressional District formerly held by the late Representative Tom Lantos will be April 8, 2008. Under California law, a majority winner in a special election is declared elected. Should no candidate achieve a majority vote, a Special Runoff Election will be held on June 3, 2008, among the top vote-getters of each qualified party, including qualified independent candidates.

Candidate committees involved in these elections must follow the reporting schedule on page 5. Please note that the reporting period for the Post-General report (or PostRunoff election report, if necessary) spans two election cycles. For this report only, authorized committees must use the Post-Election Detailed Summary Page rather than the normal Detailed Summary Page.

PACs and party committees that file on a quarterly schedule and participate in this election must also follow this schedule. PACs and party committees that file monthly should continue to file according to their regular filing schedule.

Filing electronically

Reports filed electronically must be received and validated by the Commission by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the applicable filing deadline.

Electronic filers who instead file on paper or submit an electronic report that does not pass the Commission’s validation program by the filing deadline will be considered nonfilers and may be subject to enforcement actions, including administrative fines.

Timely filing for paper filers

Registered and Certified mail

Reports sent by registered or certified mail must be postmarked on or before the mailing deadline to be considered timely filed. A committee sending its reports by certified or registered mail should keep its mailing receipt with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmark as proof of filing because the USPS does not keep complete records of items sent by certified mail.

Overnight mail

Reports filed via overnight mail¹ will be considered timely filed if the report is received by the delivery service on or before the mailing deadline. A committee sending its reports by Express or Priority Mail, or by an overnight delivery service, should keep its proof of mailing or other means of transmittal of its reports.

Other means of filing

Reports sent by other means—including first class mail and courier—must be received by the FEC before the Commission’s close of business on the filing deadline. 2 U.S.C. §434(a)(5) and 11 CFR 104.5(e). Forms are available for downloading and printing at the FEC’s web site (http://www.fec.gov/info/forms. shtml) and from FEC Faxline, the agency’s automated fax system (202/501-3413).

48-hour contribution notices

Note that 48-hour notices are required of the participating candidate’s principal campaign committee if it receives any contribution of $1,000 or more per source between March 20 and April 5, 2008, for the Special General Election; and between May 15 and May 31, 2008, for the Special Runoff Election, if that election is held.

24- and 48-hour reports of independent expenditures

Political committees and other persons must file 24-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate at or above $1,000 between March 20 and April 6, 2008, for the Special General, and between May 15 and June 1, 2008, for the Special Runoff, if that election is held. This requirement is in addition to that of filing 48-hour reports of independent expenditures that aggregate $10,000 or more at other times during a calendar year.

Electioneering communications

The 60-day electioneering communications period in connection with the Special General Election runs from February 8 through April 8, 2008. The electioneering communications period for the Special Runoff Election, if that election is held, runs from April 4 through June 3, 2008.

¹ “Overnight mail” includes Priority or Express Mail having a delivery confirmation, or an overnight service with which the report is scheduled for next business day delivery and is recorded in the service’s on-line tracking system.